Your Comprehensive Guide to Fall 2017’s Biggest Trends

Even though it is barely beginning to look like spring, it is never to early to start thinking about what to wear come next season. After sifting through all of the ideas presented on the runway, W’s editors have narrowed down the eight, must-have trends from the Fall 2017 season. Kicking off fashion month, New York was notably political both on and off the runway. Checks and plaids were everywhere, across all four cities, as were covetable tailored suits. In the bid for color of the season, Spring 2017’s pink evolved into a bold red. The month also ended on a high note, with Miuccia Prada sending out a gang of multi-cultural women of numerous races and backgrounds, in a fantastical feathers, fringe, and plastic, in something of a more-is-more rebuff to the difficult times and political climate. Diversity in casting seemed to be a key word of the season; there was both diversity of size in New York, as well as age at Simone Rocha in London and Dries Van Noten in Paris, among others. And while there is no one way to dress in a particularly wide-reaching season that offered something for everyone, here are the top 8 trends of Fall 2017.

Where wasn’t their a glen plaid or checked print? Great checked coats at Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, and Marc Jacobs were favorites, but it was especially refreshing to see plaids turn up in other pieces aside from outerwear, like Nicolas Ghesquiére’s blue, red, and yellow plaid sequined dress at Louis Vuitton.

Fanciful trimmings were out in full force–we saw feathers most notably at Calvin Klein, J.W. Anderson, and at Balenciaga, where one of the closing exists was a couture-like creature of white and black feathers, complete with a matching oversized feather bag. Fringe and colorful strings were plentiful at Michael Kors, Prada, and Pucci.

Although perhaps not homespun in the traditional sense of the word, there were many looks on the fall runway that seemed as if they were created by hand by crafty artisans. At Alexander McQueen, the fabrics were hand-embroidered to resemble church pew pillows; patchwork pieces were seen at Sonia Rykiel, Coach, and Acne; and Valentino’s patchwork-looking colorful fur was eye-catching.

Like pink for Spring 2017, red was everywhere on the runways, most notably at Givenchy where, following the departure of Riccardo Tisci, the studio team sifted through his collections, choosing their favorite Tisci looks and recreating them all in red. Monse, Versace, Prada, Fendi, and Giambattista Valli, among countless others, also sent out sensational red looks on their runways.

Designers in New York were still grappling with the outcome of the election, and how to respond to it, but they were also inspired to take action, which may have been an effect of the recent Women’s March. Prabal Gurung, Public School, and Jonathan Simkai all made their feelings known through impactful tees with says such as “Feminist AF,” and recent transplant Raf Simons offered up an American flag skirt and cowboy-inspired pieces at Calvin Klein, a different perspective on Americana.

The power in the tailoring that was so prevalent on the runways may be the ease of the suits offered at The Row and Victoria Beckham. Celine and Max Mara, both known for their suiting, offered options that would give any wearer a sense of power.

Chanel took the space-age concept very literally, offer to blast off to a future planet at its Fall 2017 show. However numerous other labels, like J. W. Anderson and Mugler offered slick silver looked.

A runaway trend for last fall, velvet is back, in many different hues. The chartreuse of last season has given way to marigold hues, like at Erdem and Jason Wu, while new favorite Attico and Altuzarra offered chic red options. Not to be outdone, Dior offered midnight blue velvet with galaxy-themed embellishment.

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